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The Black Rose's apprentice
|- | | rowspan="2"| |} The beginning As a child, I hailed from the great land of Valhalla, in the town of Alfglendryll. It was a time of peace and prosperity, and all was well in the world. However, several days after I turned nine years old, a great army came from the south. They raided our city, and took all within, walking more of them back to their camps in chains every day. I hid in the Bakery, watching helplessly as everything I knew and loved was burned to the ground. I managed to stay hidden for four days before eventually they found me. They came smashing in, sniffing the air and licking their lips hungrily. "Where are you, little one?" Said one of them, a woman with long black hair and shining red eyes. "We aren't going to hurt you." I shivered. I put all my willpower into keeping myself hidden, but the woman's words seemed so convincing I could not resist. I came out, and upon seeing me she gasped. "Do not slay him! He is..." she paused. " The one." she said. She promptly swept me up, and carried me off to their lair. I struggled to escape in vain. She took me to a room in their camp, and told me her name was Stasia. Stasia Rose. I sub-consiously agreed. I have no recollection of what happened afterwards, nor have I yet pieced it together, but what I have figured out is that several years went by, and I was about sixteen when suddenly I remember everything. I remember a training session of sorts, learning how to fall great distances without injuring myself, and learning the what I realize today is one of the most effective unarmed fighting styles in existance. Several years passed as I trained, unknowingly becoming one of the most dangerous people to walk on the earth. One day, however, I began to wonder exactly why I did what I did, and suddenly became aware that I had spent the greater part of my life so far doing things a zombie would, without knowledge of his own actions. I decided to ask my mentor of this matter, and went to ask her immediately... Who even AM I? As I walked down the corridor of the large building, I began to wonder: Who even AM I? Who are my parents? Where was I from? The questions flashed through my mind like lightning. As I opened the door to confront my mentor, I felt a wave of darkness wash over me and the last thing I remember is the scent of blood, and a sharp pain in my throat. I awoke to a headache and a strange feeling of unsatisfiable hunger... or was it thirst? I couldn't tell. All I knew is I had to escape, I had to get out... As I stepped outside, I thought it would feel good to see the sun again, to see the outdoors. Instead, I was met with the feeling of horror in my bones and a dizzy feeling. What was wrong with me? Was I ill? I managed to struggle out the door, and into the open, when instantly my skin felt as if it was burning, and my vision went blurred and then in turn completely dark. I screamed in pain. I tried to comprehend what was happening to me, but my mind failed to put anything together and I collapsed, caught in by unseen arms before the world went black. A new understanding When I recovered, I was lying in a soft velvet bed, my mentor Stasia sitting at my side. "What... what have I become?" I croaked. "I... I am sorry." She whispered. "You are bound to me... my apprentice." The Black Rose's apprentice Afterwards, I trained hard use this New found curse of "Vampirism", as Stasia called it. It was bitter work, but the results were worth it. After twenty long years I was the most powerful Vampire and Man to walk the streets of Ceredia, maybe the world. My skills in acrobatics and combat with blades outmatched any creature's, and my magical abilities were like no others. I resided in the Castle with Stasia and a few others until the day of my first mission into the world. A mission like no other My mission: Infiltrate the fortress of BloodMoon and assassinate their leader. The night I was to set off, Stasia offered me a piece of advice: Avoid the guards, Don't challenge them. I thought about this as I traveled... What could she possibly mean? The guards were strong fighters? I didn't think this would be much of a problem, after all, that's the sort of thing I had trained to fight. The journey was three nights travel to the fortress. When I arrived, dawn was just arriving. I assumed I should figure out exactly how I was going to do this, and dug a small hole in a hillside, using it as shelter. I decided to rest, as there was a long night ahead of me, and laid down to sleep. I awoke as the sun was just going down. I preyed upon some cattle (not my favorite) and headed off towards the fort. As I approached the walls, I wondered what lay on the other side. I wished myself luck, and leapt to the top of the wall. Strangely, there seemed to be no one in sight. "Where is everyone?", I wondered. Suddenly, I heard the clattering of armor and cast a quick vanish spell. "We've been at war for months, sir! There's nothing we can do about it." I heard a strange raspy voice say. "Enough! I'm done hearing this nonsense! We leave at sunrise, under command of Lord Oragoth!" Said a gruff, but still raspy voice. The sounds of their voices faded away. I crept over a windowsill, and was suddenly face to face with their leader, Orgoth or something, the man I was supposed to kill. He drew his sword, but i flung a snowball worth enough accuracy to fill his mouth, and before he could react I let loose a blood-curdling screech and threw my blade into him, impaling him into the ground. I gasped at the simplicity of this: I had already succeeded. Now all I had to do was escape without being caught. Unfortunately, this was not as simple as getting in. The guards spotted, or better said sensed me as I left. They managed to corner me, and I had no choice but to fight them. I turned around, and the two guards who had actually managed to keep up me stopped as well, and drew their weapons. One of them shouted "Stop, criminal scum!". I wondered where I'd heard that before. Then, one of them swung their axe at me. Time slowed down. I leapt over the guards and swiftly knocked the axe out of his hands, then kicked him into his friend. They both tumbled into each other, but one clumsily lobbed a potion at me as he fell over. It splattered on me as I dashed up the wall, and unto the balcony. The water seemed to sparkle, and it hurt my eyes. I began to feel tired... very tired. My vision started to go blurred. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew I had to escape before I was rendered useless by the potion. I barely could haul myself over the wall, and stumble into my little hovel thing, when I scented an elf. I turned around, and there she was, holding a very sharp, strangely glistening wooden dagger to my throat. She put her head right next to mine and whispered in my ear. "You aren't the only spy around here." I tried to remain calm, and suddenly remembered what Stasia had done when I had snuck up on her and done the near same thing. With a flash, I remembered everything: As she went to stab me through the throat, I ducked under the dagger and pressed on the hilt, knocking it to the ground, and at the same time the poor elf learned the hard way not to put her neck that close to a vampire's fangs. Needless to say, soon there was an unconscious elf laying beside me, and I foolishly, maybe a bit sleepily (the way you are after eating a good meal) decided to begin the journey home, not realizing that the sun was slowly but surely rising, and by the time I realized what was happening, I was crossing a desert at top speed, ignoring the burn of the sunlight and the dizziness and difficulty seeing, I pushed on for hours, until I was crawling desperately through the sands. As I was about to give up and let my form burn to nothing, I felt a strange inner feeling, almost like I was fighting myself. A burst of light blazed from my body, and suddenly the sunlight stopped burning me, my dizziness faded, and I could see clearly again. It felt good to be outside again, to breathe the fresh air, to feel the wind in my hair... Was I.. Human again? I checked... no fangs. I gazed to the sky at this miracle, this blessing from above. In perfect timing, I had been saved by... something inside me? That's sure what is felt like. I was so happy I had survived. I started to head home, when I realized a problem: what would Stasia say? Not sure of how I would explain this, I decided to head home as quick as possible, and figure it out once I returned. The explanation When I returned home, I was thinking still of how I would explain all this to Stasia, when I decided to get a drink of... water. It was still a shock to eat and drink mortal food again. As I went to the kitchens, Stasia snuck up on me. She pressed her golden blade against my throat to surprise me. "Good to see you made it back alive! You should have scented me... is everything alright?" Uh oh. Well, this is it, I thought. "Um Stasia, on the way home I got stuck in a desert... and the sun came up." Are you ok? she asked. "Well, um, sort of. Alright, no. In the desert..." I told her everything that had happened. I expected her to be angry, but instead she simply nodded. "I never wanted you to know... you are the one I detected had a great ability in magic. Your father was a Paladin of the once great city Stormblade. I never meant for you to know..." She was silent. "I...I'm a warrior of Light?" I stuttered. I had often heard of whispers in the castle of the so-called 'light-warriors', the bane of every vampire, but I never in a million years thought I would be desended from them. "Yes." she said. "And now, you know." She paused and took a breath. "Do as you choose. You may leave, if you like." She turned away and began walking towards her room, slowly. I could do nothing but stare in wonder. "Stasia?" she stopped. And there is where I made the decision. "I would never leave you.". A learning experience... and much more. I got even more training after that. Stasia kept telling me I could "harness" these powers, and then have them at my disposal, using them to my advantage. Unfortunately, this was far from Stasia's specialty, and it was several years, decades even, before I would be able to even slightly control them. Looking back, this part of my training and past are rather uneventful. Even the few times I managed to get my powers to work, they faltered or had unintentional targets or results. The day I mastered the power of Light would be far in the future, and for the sake of expediture, I shall tell you that part... It was just another day of training, nothing special, or so it seemed to be. I was having a particular difficulty in using Light magic today, Stasia said she didn't know much about it, but said that since the moon was full, it would be a bit more difficult. I was sitting outside, concentrating on the Light, trying to get a feel to it, when my meditation was replaced by a feeling of horror. Absolute horror. The moon turned a dark shade of red. As I jumped up, trying to assess what had just happened, the sound of a woman screaming echoed through the valley. Screaming that she wanted the Great Wizard and the Man of Silver dead by her hands. Before I could process THAT, I heard a more familiar scream. Stasia! I went to dash over, but before I could, Stasia leapt out the doors, scenting the air, then turned and looked at me and licked her lips. For those who don't speak vampiric body-language, this means '"I am going to eat you." '"Stasia?" I choked out. She pounced at me. As I went down, time slowed itself. I saw, overlaid with Stasia, like a flickering ghost, the figure of a pale woman. Wasn't that Ninjabaver's wife?! Time returned to normal, and I barely slipped away. I knew, this time, it wasn't a training session. If I messed up, I wouldn't just get teeth in my neck and a little blood lost. I would lose everything. She looked me in the eye, and I saw Stasia. My Stasia. She beckoned towards her."Come here, little apprentice. You should know better than to run from me." I resisted the cunning mind tricks. Stasia had once taught me, that the mind was the best of the weaponry. If I was not overcome by the mind, nothing could overcome my body. Yet... her words were so tempting... just surrender.. just kneel down... just let her... drink my blood? I shook it off. Mind games! I would not back down. Unfortunately, that little trick was enough to distract me for a few seconds, and she had crept up behind me, and put her dagger to my throat. "Now... I will have a meal!" She said. I flinched, and wondered why it had to end, end like this, to the hands of my teacher... so much more could have happened... And suddenly, I wasn't there anymore. I was on a bridge, over a little brook. And there was an old man, standing infront of me. I realised I was looking at myself, in old age, as a mortal. And the man spoke: "Watchdogeditor. There have always been two forces: Light, and The Dark. They have, and always will be, in eternal conflict. Vampires kill humans and drink their blood. Humans get revenge, and slay the vampires. Humans are turned, and vampires are cured. One unending cycle. But you are different. Look at yourself. Your father was a Paladin, evil-slayer. Your mother a Vampire, a Queen of night. You are both the Light and the Darkness. You are the bridge." He stepped forward, and touched my forehead, and my vision completely filled with the scenes are armies fighting, unending wars, and standing in the middle of it, fighting equally for both sdies, was me. With a flash, this disappeared, and I was back in the real world, Stasia still holding a dagger to my throat. As she leaned her head over to bite me, to end me, I thought about darkness. About all the horrors of the night. About fresh spilled blood, and neverending hunger. And those thoughts suddenly became me. I was a vampire. I leapt out of Stasia's grasp, and landed on the top of the wall. She panicked, and in her moment of panic I thought about Light. Infinite light. Sweeping away the darkness. Cleansing the world. And from my palms, I fired a beam of pure brilliance at possessed Stasia. The second the beam touched her, three things happened: Stasia collapsed on the ground, a horrible screech was heard, like a thousand demons screaming, and from my body came a burst of light, millions of torches worth, flooding the night sky and sweeping away evil. The light faded, and I immediately felt tired. Had that actually worked? I checked. Fangs. I WAS a vampire! Before I could finish marveling, I thought: Stasia! Was she alright? I dashed over and lifted her semi-consious body, and carried her over to one of the few remaining structures after the supernova of Light. She as most certainly NOT alright. "Watchdog?" She managed. "Shhh. I'm sorry, Stasia. I never meant for this to happen..." I whispered. "It's alright... I don't know what came over me..." She coughed. "Goodbye Stasia. I... I loved you." The aftermath After such a terrible deed, and terrible loss, I never knew how I would forgive myself. I felt horrible. I looked and looked for a town, a village, somewhere that would accept me. I found an underground village by the name of Fortress, and decided to join. Where's the harm? I thought. I made my house, and within a week, they village was raided and taken over, and I was on the run again. It crossed my mind... What would Stasia do? Sigh. I didn't know. I missed her terribly, despite my best efforts, I could not heal the damage I had done. She died with honor, trying to kill a creeper that had done his job well in creeping up on me, despite her condition. I had no place I could stay in too long. People would call me lists of names: Wizard, Warlock, Witch. I continued, constantly on the move, from town to town, never finding a place I could settle down in. A light in the dark After a few years time, the sorrow of losing Stasia was not as great, but I still missed her terribly. I thought to myself, what could I have done instead? To avoid this outcome? To not lose her? I wondered... I wandered the wilderness, until, one day, starving and fleeing from angry townfolk, I ran across a man by the name of Fireangel. He told me to hide the keep until the villagers had passed, as he owned a castle nearby. I did so, and when they had passed, he asked me to join his stronghold, by the name of Lustrum. I happily obliged. Was I going to settle here for good? Had I found my home at last? After some time, it seemed so. I settled down and opened a shop by the name of the Drunken Cow, where I sold (and still do to this day!) potions and weaponry of all kinds. I was quickly promoted to High assassin, and I met quite a alot people, a few became good friends of mine. For the first time in a very long while, I became happy, and it seemed luck had finally turned it's bright, shining face my way. A mistake I lived in Lustrum for a while, when I realised (or thought I did) nobody was around. I looked about, and the place seemed deserted. I foolishly decided I would leave at once, and headed off, towards a town I had once heard of called Jaffa. I arrived, after several days journey, and at first the leader welcomed me. I settled down, built my house, and everything. However, during my second day living there, in the middle of the night, I was chased out by the villagers on false and random accusations. They stole my belongings, and chased me out of town. I decided I had to move on, despite the small fortune I had left behind at the town, and continued for miles, thousands of miles, until I came upon a small building in the woods. I knocked, and was answered by a short man in his bedclothes. He asked what I was doing, tromping about in the woods at this time of the night, then proceesed to ask if I was one of those 'crazy' people who drank blood and lived in caves. Sigh. To this, I answered no, and he told me there was a cabin behind his, for visitors, and that he was very tired and to explain myself and who I was in the morning. I was thankful for the fact some people sleep alot, and went and retired in the cabin, which was, indeed behind his, keeping my eye out for suspisiousness. None occured. So I took a rest. The next morning, he awoke and asked me who I was, and why I was here. I took a bit of a risk and told him my story, leaving out the... delicate parts. He said it was fine and fate takes people all over Ceradia, and Planes beyond, and it wasn't his business. He then proceeded to explain who HE was, and that he was supposed to be out here with his friends building a town for everyone to live in, but that they hadn't arrived yet. So he was just waiting. I asked if I could join, and after a bit of further questioning, he said yes. The return After all I had been through, I thought I would be at peace finally. And yet, something seemed wrong. I was sitting in my tower I had built, writing, when suddenly a messenger hawk landed on the windowsill. It brought a message from my old leader, Fireangel, who wanted me to return to Lustrum. I thought about and it, and almost replied no, but in the end, something inside told me my heart lied there, and I returned home. Watchdogeditor, Bringer of dawn and dusk When I returned, I was welcomed as a hero. I, to this day, never unerstood why. Fate? Possibly. It felt good to be back, to live in my house again, to sell things in my shop... Only one thing was missing: Stasia. All those nights I dreamed of somehow having my beloved mentor back... sigh. I sure missed her. But, I have to move on. I stepped outside, and for the first time since I had done that dreadful thing, I raised my hand in the air. I called upon Light, and I called upon Darkness. I called upon everything, one in all, and suddenly I was back in that place: The same bridge, the same creek. And the same me. Except... I was young. I was literally looking at myself. Same eyes, same hair, same age. And he, or I, spoke: "So! You finally understand! Good for you, Watchdog! Good to know you finally know why you had to suffer all through all this to learn that one lesson: Light and Darkness are simply forces. What you do with them, is your choice. That's what gives them a name. What people do with them. Otherwise, things would never have a name. They would simply exist as an object, never serving any purpose to anyone. And YOU, have given a very special name to yourself: from this day forwards, your name will be Watchdogeditor, bringer of dawn and dusk. And you will choose what to do with your powers. That's what gives them a name, after all." He laughed. "And as a gift, I have something to show you..." HE stepped forward, holding up a crystal bowl, I glanced inside and saw my future laid out, like a looking-glass to the future. And I simply said... "No. I do not want my future planned out. I want to choose what I do, to give MYSELF my name. Not anyone else." He, or I, just looked at me. And he said, "Good choice. Live long and be happy, and know you will always do the right thing in the end, Watchdogeditor, bringer of dawn and dusk." Present day I have moved out of Lustrum and gathered all my friends from my adventures, and created a small city by the name of Athiktos. I think, after all that hardship, I've found my place at last. But remember... the journey's over, not for me. Adventure's still out there. I might journey to a far away land, or fight in a great war. But... I think this entry in my journal is long enough, so I'll leave it for later. Until next time! -Watchdogeditor, The Black rose's apprentice, Bringer of Dawn and Dusk. Category:Members Category:(RP) Characters